Eduardo Banned for Two Games for Diving: UEFA Following Forgotten Precedent

UEFA’s decision to ban Eduardo for two games for his dive against Celtic in the Champions League playoffs has really polarised opinion, and some people seem to be under the impression UEFA are making up the rules as they go along here. But that isn’t the case.

In fact, back in 2006 UEFA announced players who deceive the referee will be banned for two games after video review, if there has been an “obvious error” by the on-field referee during the game.

This seems to apply in the Eduardo case, and it’s not the first time UEFA have applied this rule. In fact — and little remembered — UEFA did set a precedent for this two years ago with their ban of Lithuania’s Saulius Mikoliunas for two games for diving against Scotland (what is it with that country and diving?) after considering video evidence.

The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body today examined the case of the Arsenal FC player Eduardo “for deceiving the referee” during the UEFA Champions League play-off second leg match on 26 August against Celtic FC, and has suspended the player for two UEFA club competition matches.

There’s no explanation why Eduardo was targeted for this action in terms of a mention of UEFA’s standing rule and previous action they have taken, leaving many to simply conclude UEFA only took this action due to the outcry in the media about Eduardo’s blatant dive and not because they were following their own precedent.

Moreover, as players regularly dive in UEFA competions, it seems curious that there’s no explanation of why this particular incident has led to a video review when countless others haven’t in the past. As ever, consistency is the issue.

So UEFA aren’t treating Eduardo differently or apart from their own rules; the problem is, they’ve not done a very good job of explaining that themselves.

I think you hit the nail on the head – consistency is the issue. This problem will also be exponentially magnified as individuals view FIFA and domestic competitions: will the subject dive standard be applied in those matches as well?

I am really interested by the new referees by the goal concept – boxhawks who can focus on the goal line and penalty/dive decisions, both of which are important to ensure the integrity fo the competition.

September 1, 2009 at 11:15 amJockyBhoy

Classic British press getting bees in their bonnets. Feel sorry for Eduardo becoming the scapegoat – the British press & the intervention of the blazers at the SFA upped the ante on this. Most Celtic fans shrugged their shoulders and agree you need the little things to go your way when you are playing a qualtiy side and we didn’t get much luck over those two games…

As for the precedent – well the Mikoliunas didn’t open the floodgates for bans previously.

September 2, 2009 at 6:26 amEtienne

Well, they clearly are treating Eduardo differently, just as Mikoulinias was treated differently before. It’s good that the rule is being applied, but impossible to pretend that UEFA weren’t acting arbitrarily (or in direct response to the high profil nature of the offence) in choosing to apply it for the second time in 2 years.